Well, working overtime certainly impacted my sew time. I have one block done for the week. It is not ironed, nor did I photograph it. *sigh*. Time was well spent doing other things. Just not sewing this week.
But I did manage to tackle some scraps. These scraps have been laying around for more than a year. Some were bagged, some were wadded up, most within arms reach of my machine.
You touch them and move them out of the way, and sure enough they are in your way again. It was high time they become useful.
Perhaps useful is the wrong word, tamed is more like it.
I had Frolic scraps, Kaffe scraps, red scraps, in my way for one last time. Strings are saved and hung up next to my machine, and when that area becomes unroomy (lol), they move to a baggie and placed in the tote. Well, not now LOL. They are now tamed into 2 1/2, 2, and 1 1/2 inch squares. I filled a couple of tubs. This only took me a couple of hours last weekend. And it sure was nice to get that stuff out of my work area.
This is all I have for the week, and the coming week looks even worse. I would not call overtime mandatory, but certainly frowned upon. I am a team player, so work play it is!
Sorry readers. Stay tuned, it will be better soon. Thanks for reading my blog!
I knew this weeks post was going to be meager. Overtime ruled my life this week. My 8 hour days turned into 10. And when you add an hour commute, being away from home for 12 hours, basically leaves the necessities left; eat, sleep, cook, bathe.
I did get one more block done!
That is why I am calling this post Uno Mas. That is Spanish for one more. There is a famous movie line in one of my favorite movies with Jackie Chan in Shanghai Noon. Click here to take you to that scene on Youtube.
When I looked this up, I found out that they have announced a 3rd movie with Jackie Chan playing Chon Wang (prounounced John Wayne LOL). I look forward to seeing this one.
I also had a moment of brainstorm that resulted in a larger pocket bag. Daisy and Grace and Missouri Star have given excellent tutorials for making this zipper pouch.
Right now we are in a time of use what you got. If you do not have any of the poly or see through fabric but want to make one, or if you do not have a zipper in the house, I have figured out a way to get you working on this project.
All of us quilters have baggies. Ziplock baggies full of scraps, strings, fat quarters, projects, notions, and thread even. Ladies, you could make this project with the ziploc if you wanted to. Or if you want a zipper bag, go through your baggies. If you have ever purchased new bedding, they come in a zippered bag. Don’t let the shape of the bag fool you. It is not square, it is actually flat with the top and bottom sealed into a square like pouch. Cut the bottom and top off your bag. It will result in a flat piece of clear poly with a zipper already installed! You can also use the rear of the bag for a see through pocket on the back without a zipper. You cannot tell in the photo below but there is another clear pocket within this one. It was for the sheet manufacturer to place the picture of the sheet set. Not sure that will ever get used, but it is there invisibly if the need ever calls for it.
Not the prettiest bag, but it will certainly get the job done. And for whatever reason, this zipper was easier to sew over than the nylon zippers I previously showed you in their respective pouches.
If you would like more details on how to make this pouch click here for my full post.
And I decided yesterday to take the whole weekend off. I vegetated most of the day. When I wasn’t one with the couch, I was doing laundry or making masks. My order from Spoonflower came in and I am making masks for coworkers. This will lead to the intent of selling masks to those who want one too. Spoonflower fabric is expensive, the most expensive I have ever purchased. You can get anything you want put onto fabric, that is why it is so much. It has a 6 week lead time before arriving.
One of my coworkers wanted a plague doctor’s mask. I was going to make him one, and saw how ridiculous and meticulous it was and opted to simplify by just making him a reg mask out of plague doctor’s fabric. He is going to love it!
I made a monarch butterfly mask for a lady who gave me a gob of tomatoes from her garden. She love the color orange. And I bought PC board fabric for a lady I work with who works on PC boards. She will love that!
The farthest I got this week in the quilting dept is printing off another months worth of patterns for the 365 quilt block challenge. I have more than 30 days of blocks ahead of me, and just do not want to work on it right now.
I am very close to having the Sew Quester quilted. But I am tired. Maybe one of these week nights I will make it down there to work some more on it. I lack probably less than 4 hours. Not sure how many hours I have in it. I probably need to get me a timekeeper on my machine so I have a clue how long my quilts are taking. Pebbling takes a long time. Ruler work takes a long time. But I am in the home stretch.
I am ready to buy a new house and move my machine into a house I occupy. It would just be more convenient and less planning involved. I am waiting to see how many lovely homes go on the market due to the non-essentials not working. I think there is an executive order to keep those people in their homes, but I have money and am an opportunist.
I fantasize about living in an old house, one that has been renovated (I already live in a old house, but this one is in the primitive state still). I dream of a day I can run the vacuum while the air conditioning is on. I fantasize of the day I turn the hot and cold water in the bathroom sink and it comes out of one spout mixed (yeah I have two spiggots on my bathroom sink, one for cold one for hot, it is OLD and probably worth a lot of money LOL) I dream of a day turning on the hot water without the clatter of the pipes LOL. I dream of the day of adjusting a thermostat on the wall to regulate the temperature of the whole house. I dream of the day I can retire the high velocity shop fans that push air from the window air unit to move it all through the house with it’s deafening sound. That noise interrupts the serenity of the mind and can put you on edge all by itself. A torture of noise, an increased frequency, seems to decrease patience. And the dream of more square footage for my machine to be just in the next room ready for 15 minutes of quilting, or whatever each evening would permit.
Well, I am off to get some breakfast in my tummy. Thank you for stopping in and reading my blog!
Boxers or briefs? Heard this question before? A question of the most comfortable underwear, which has nothing to do with quilting! HA! My random thought generator was thinking about this very question with the new accessory we are all wearing, the facemask.
There are the gator style masks which are like boxers, they hang low and loose. And then there are the snug ones that fit the shape of your nose, more like briefs. I have both styles and for breathe-ability, I like the gator style. But for comfort on the face I like the briefs. LOL! Enough about the new face underwear. (I think of it as underwear for your face, because it resembles a speedo or a bra when not on, it holds it shape.)
I had much block progress this week! I am now working June blocks, YAY!
During the construction of these small pieces, you have tremendous bulk up of seams. A pressing nightmare as there are no pressing instructions. It is marvelous when you outsmart the block and manage to nest all your seams! BLISS!
I saw a post of those currently working this years 365 blocks and realized the lighter 6 inch block rows are sewn together in July! I am 28 blocks out from this and thought I might as well layout what I have done to see how busy it is. I worried about too much red making your eyes not be able to focus on the individual blocks.
I am pleased as punch! or a Strawberry Smoothie in this case! The darks are not too dark and are defined as blocks. The lights are a nice variety of different shades of light with just a pop of color. This is coming along! I love the pace, I love that I am going outside my comfort zone with the dreaded color of red. I love that I have made two very wise decisions during the assembly, which impacted my quilt greatly. This quilt will sparkle with the right intensity! Perfection? Heck no! Happiness? You betcha! More fun to come? Absolutely! July 1st will be the halfway point! Satisfied? Very much so!
This post almost did not happen. My progress will probably come to a grinding halt.. Working overtime now and will probably be too tired to do this in the evenings. I will be checking in from time to time, but probably not posting as I will have little to offer.
Sit tight, Perhaps next weekend I will be sewing up a storm and post late Sunday or on Monday.
Today is laundry, cleaning, making macadamia nuts cookies with white choc goodness, and cooking supper. Work, yup. Happiness, you betcha! Be safe, and thank you for reading my blog!
The project pocket featured on Daisy and Grace’s youtube channel, and now featured with M*QC, has been used for one of the 365 quilt block challenge blocks. It worked. It had to accompany my home made alpha bitties. So, that means I can only use one pouch and cut one block and then I am at a stop. So it kind of worked with a cutting stopage, LOL
This block had soooooo many pieces. Went up to the letter K for cutting. And it took me a few hours to assemble. Insane! 81 pieces!
I present May 21st!
I rather like how it turned out!
Here are a couple more blocks I have completed this week. I aim to do some more cutting and piecing over the weekend.
And here is this one. I like it’s negative space. It seems to simplify a complicated block! It has turned out to be one of my favorites so far.
Those of you quilters who are keeping their sanity right now by making stuff with your sewing machine, it is good for the soul. It helps mend. So the more insane some of these blocks are, the better for my sanity. Does this make any sense? It is a true exercise of patience and fabric play. A bit of drama with color, cut to bits, shaped into blocks. It is a happy existence. Some of you know what I speak of. For those of you who don’t, I highly recommend a creative, colorful hobby to keep things in the mind at peace. It truly works!
The sun has set, the holiday weekend is upon us. I hope everyone has a safe holiday! And thank you for reading my blog!
I grew up in the midwest. Any car trip during growing season yielded looking out the window at vast fields of soybeans, potatoes, corn, and wheat. When gazing upon those fields, most farmers would plant them so that the rows would be perpendicular to the road. I am not sure if this was coincidence or for a reason. But when driving by the “V” would catch your eye, and it would follow you to the next field. The “V” was the formation of the plants on each side of the row. It formed this “V” and it was truly mesmerizing.
Here in Texas, growing seasons are different, soils are different, and very few fields are planted with rows perpendicular to the road (I assume this is for erosion control here). So the mesmerization of the fields has become of a thing of the past (except for winter wheat. Winter wheat mesmerizes you because it is so lush and green, and everything surrounding it id brown and dull).
Every 5 years or so, some of the crop rotation here is cotton, corn, beans, and then my favorite crop!
I noticed about 3 weeks ago, a field of sunflowers was planted right next to an unfenced cemetery. I knew this would be a lovely photo op. And photo op it was this week! Because of the virus, there are so many things you are not allowed to do. But going to a cemetery, well, let’s just say the dead people don’t care! I find cemeteries peaceful. I found the name of my youngest on a headstone from the 1800s. Looking for a perfect old fashioned name uncommon today. I was successful. My daughter is perfectly named Tully.
With the light high in the afternoon, and a warm windy day, the photos came across as light. But because of the high Texas sun in the eye of the lens, it softened the pictures a bit. It captured how the sun was in my eyes that day. It captured it as I saw it, but not how I wanted to see the pictures turn out.
Every morning while driving by on my commute, this field just smiles at me. It makes me happy. Not sure if it is due to the color of yellow, or the effect of so much yellow. As you come upon it, it glows like a yellow carpet in the distance. The closer you get to it, the more it smiles. Perhaps the sunflower represents a happy time in my childhood. I recall these flowers being planted. I recall I thought they reached the sky at my ripe ole age of 6. Perhaps the happiness is within, within the fondness of a different time. Regardless, it is a happy thing to see and think about in the throws of what we all face each day. Nature is beautiful, even if this was helped along by a farmer. It will feed many. That farmer works so hard to bring the food to our tables. When they are sick, they cannot call in sick, they still have all their chores to do. It is a hard life.
When you celebrate your fourth of July, please remember, every bite you take, it because a farmer worked hard for a meager salary, to help you nourish your bodies. Thank you to all farmers, past and present! You make every one of my holidays a feast!
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